Tina engages us in phone photography – and I must admit there are fantastic possibilities nowadays. I don’t have a very good camera phone, ( a 5 year old Samsung) but I can call people and manage my life with the phone I have. I seldom use it on travels, but at home on my walks and small outings when a real camera feels cumbersome. I still find it difficult to hold this thing for a good photo. I guess I would have to practice more! True is, that “The best camera is the one you have with you.” — Chase Jarvis
Anyway, this is a fun challenge! I have chosen to make a gallery of my shots, because of the lesser quality of my phone. Larger photos don’t make it good enough. So, here we go with everything from macro to happy ladies!
We hope you’ll join us to share your own thoughts and results with your phone of choice. Be sure to link to Tinas post and to use the Lens-Artists Tag to help us find you. Thanks also to Egidio for showing us the power of B&W and having us conjuring up the colors with our imagination. Finally, we hope you’ll join us next week when Patti leads us on her Pilotfish post. Until then, please stay safe and be kind.
I love these end of the year opportunities to post some pictures that didn’t quite make the cut or didn’t quite fit in to our challenges. This year was no photography year for me – not much traveling either – rather a painting year. But here they are, my last chances!
The opener/header shows a Madeira interior from one of our hikes in June. There were fewer traveling days than usual this year, let’s see what the new year has in store for us.
Little ones – Vedema frog and babies. A favourite day out in April.
My garden in flower. A moss lover I am, a tiny worlds lover. I found these photos in a folder from August 2025. They were untouched – so, a perfect fit!
I will end with a frosty Autumn picture from the lake and the last one from my forest, when the beeches were already fading. I love that colour though, and miss it now when all leaves are gone and everything is grey and dull.
We want to announce that this is our last post of the year as Lens-Artists will be taking the final 2 weeks of December off and will return on January 3.
THANK YOU for all your Holiday Fun posts! Now it is time for the 2025 fun too! Thank you all for making this year, 2025, brighter and more hopeful – I believe that is one of the best reasons to keep a blog, to connect and communicate. For me, it’s a vital source to constantly revive faith in mankind. So, until we see you again – stay safe, be kind and enjoy the Holiday Season.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and may the New Year be Happy and Healthy for us all!
An early wake up again on the train – the last part before Lhasa. The Tanggula pass is more than 5000 meters above sea level, but we were well taken care of with oxygen in our compartments.
The Tibetan Plateau is breathtakingly beautiful – I still have tears in my eyes when I look at the old photos-
– and again we were glued to the window. The whole journey is almost 2000 kilometers and today it takes some 40-45 hours. I guess hour train ride took a bit longer 16 years ago.
We passed by majestic rivers, lakes, mountains in every kind of weather – but I think above all we loved the magical cloudscapes over the vast open spaces.
I remember we didn’t sleep much…as we didn’t want to leave the magic outside that train window. In fact we were earlier up than ever. We rose with the first light shining in.
The colours were beautifully contrasting between warm and cold, and the numerous jaks and sheep were grazing everywhere. We also saw a wolf, but weren’t quick enough to photograph it.
The clouds created a moving palette on the ground – with shadows and light playing. Sometimes we felt the clouds were sailing so low we could have touched them had we been able to get off the train for a minute!
As we approached Lhasa, we came closer to the mountains and the valleys –
which we hadn’t done before. There were some people too out there – but very few and not easily spotted. If you can see them, they speak of the vastness and grandeur of the landscape.
Time stood still during the train ride, so we couldn’t imagine we would soon be there – at our final destination Lhasa, Tibet. A destination longed for since I was a child, but I never could have dreamed of such an amazing journey to get there!
A couple of minutes left, and then – a new adventure would unfold. Tibet. We were sad to leave the Plateau behind, because we knew we would fly back to Beijing in a couple of weeks, never to see it again.
Thank you for taking the Quinghai train with me – at least a bit easier than staying glued to a train window!
When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.
― Ansel Adams
Egidio is our silent guide this week, and silence is one of our most precious gifts in life. Please visit Egidio’s inspirational site to learn more about the challenge and American photographer Robert Adams’ use of silence in photography.
Trees, forests and water are my main sources for portraying silence. And as always, Light. My favourite places to go for complete silence – only allow the sound of wind, water or bird song.
Silence is a source of great strength.
– Lao Tzu
In silence there is eloquence.
– Rumi
Let silence take you to the core of life.
– Rumi
Silence speaks louder than words.
– Thomas Carlyle
Silence is not the absence of sound but the presence of a deeper meaning.
– Unknown
Silence is a true art; it teaches us to speak without words.
– Unknown
A massive thank you to Ritva for last week’s challenge based on Leonard Cohen’s poem. I loved the variety of responses to this creative challenge. We hope you will join us again, and remember to link back to Egídio’s original post with the Lens-Artists tag, so we can find you in the WP reader.
Next week it’s Patti’s turn, Saturday 9th November. Patti’s challenge will be In the Details, as she asks us to choose a subject (a statue, a person, a place, street art, etc.) and take a series of photos ot it. Getting closer and closer to the subject, focusing on a particular detail(s). We can vary our shots by changing perspective or angle of shooting – or even lens. Post three photos of the subject, but feel free to shoot another series on a second subject.
This bust in Kokura Castle intrigued me. The man’s name was not possible to read, neither was the artist’s name. They were only written in Japanese, and there was nobody to ask about it.
I walked past him several times, as he was standing (if a bust can stand?) close to the entrance gate. Each time I felt someone was watching me. It was something with his eyes.
I know about (and have seen such paintings) Renaissance painters who could paint eyes that seemingly followed you, but sculptures? They say it is about how the iris is placed against the white part of the eye. Anyhow, he was creepy. And in my picture, the surrounding photographic blur mirrors the look in his eyes.
What are your thoughts? Have you experienced something similar? Has someone got a further explanation to the phenomenon?
Magical – I wonder…what is magical to you? According to Wikipedia, Magical can mean: ”…beautiful or delightful in a way that seems removed from everyday life. ” I think that is the most common use. At least for us grown-ups. But there are of course other meanings too.
First of all, I guess we all need some magic in our lives, don’t we? Especially in difficult times like these. I try to find magical moments every day, and one of them is acorns sprouting new life, new little oak trees – in my kitchen. I enjoy looking at them growing every day.
Being alive and observing the living things on this blue planet gives my life all the magic I need. Nature has it all. I just have to walk out the door and open my senses.
Nature’s seasons are magical to me. This image shows fading Autumn by the river – and Mother Nature spreading her fairy dust in the most extraordinary ways. I cannot imagine living in a world without seasons, but unfortunately climate change is working on reducing our four seasons into two.
Often in fairytales and fantasy literature we find magical things in another sense – like roads, bridges and doors that open up to new landscapes, other worlds. We don’t really know what it will feel like or look like, or what will happen to us when we have passed the entrance. But we love that feeling of uncertainty and excitement.
Even if we know the facts, how ice is built and why – it is still magical every time the ”feathers” appear on my glasshouse or on the car.
And Spanish moss – it is fascinating to hide inside living curtains. And what child does not love to build a simple cabin in the forest? Or under the kitchen table! I still remember that magic – and I am now fully allowed to experience it again with my grandchild… We have great fun together.
Some of us feel that mystical, or maybe supernatural, is what we think of when we hear ”magical”. A dark tree with one natural lantern and one manmade. Magical, mystical, or even a bit scary?
Clearly light and darkness are strongly connected to what we consider ”magical”. But, that doesn’t mean it has to be dark – it can be soft and misty, with dew drops and colours too.
If natural magic is not enough for you, or if you like to play around with your images – Lightroom and Photoshop, Topaz, or other software programs, can turn your photo into a painting, soften it into a dream or use presets for different colour combinations. There are an abundance of possibilities. And it is fun! Magical transformations in one single click – or two. Not many years ago this was only imagination.
My final example is from this festive time of the year – the Holiday Season. Many magical wonders in the world of my little granddaughter. I believe we should try to keep that feeling alive. Let them be fascinated and filled with awe. Let their eyes glow. Let them be children. They will grow up soon enough. And we who have grown up into this tough world, would feel better with something of that magic lingering in our eyes.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
– Albert Einstein
Now, Magical might mean so many different things to us, so – What is Magical to you? Special people, places, things; nature, adventures, childhood memories… – what are the ingredients you want there to make it magical? This week we are looking forward to seeing some of Your magic! Please link to my original post and use the Lens-Artists tag so we can find you in the reader.
A big thank you to Amy for last week’s Unique – an intriguing challenge that brought us fantastic and unique experiences! Much to ponder and much to learn.
Keep well until next Saturday, when Tina will be our host again. Be sure to visit her beautiful site for more inspiration!
Fragments...yes, our lives are, the world is. Brian of Bushboy is our guest host this week, and he says: ”What has been happening recently is a bit of fragmentation around the world, a disconnect. But we always have been made up of pieces. What I would like to see is some of your fragments.”
I am late to the party, because my life right now is more than fragmentary, sometimes I feel I am dissolving totally. But once again I will try to scramble up the pieces of my self and act like a whole person.
Some thoughts of fragments from me on a warm summer’s day, sitting in my garden.
Fragments of lives lost, going down with the Titanic.
I love using fragments in my photography, it makes us look at the image with open senses, using our fantasy. Drawing our own conclusions, making pictures in our minds.
Not showing the whole picture, the whole background or the whole subject is beautiful and suggestive. I wish that would be used in clothing and model photography as well.
Fragments…can make poetry
Fragments talk to our senses. Early summer of wild orchids in evening light make my heart sing. What fragments make your heart sing?
Fragments put together make a clearer picture of what is happening. Like the words and chapters of a book. Or the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
A fragment of the facade is gone…but a butterfly made it ”whole” again – gave it a new meaning. One of life’s little wonders.
Fragments of beauty is still there while we are ageing…
Fragments of Love. A great deal of my time now goes to fitting together the fragments of my father’s life. Through photos, letters and talks with his only remaining sister. I kept some of his things to feel closer to him. Photos, his accordion, a shirt, his books, paintings… What are we humans – only fragments of life on earth, life in space, life in the universe.
But it is a good thing to think of our lives as tiny and insignificant. We tend to take ourselves too seriously.
Many thanks to Brian for this thoughtful challenge, and to Donna and her lovely “Bugs” challenge last week. Next week Tina will be hosting LAPC. So, look out for her exciting challenge!
Leya 
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